If the address "Mockingbird Lane" rings a bell, well, you've probably been watching TV for more than just a few years.

1313 Mockingbird Lane was the location of the dilapidated mansion of "The Munsters" back in the '60s. It was one of two popular macabre-themed sitcoms of the era, the other being "The Addams Family," based on the classic cartoons of Charles Addams. Of the two, "The Addams Family" was slightly more sophisticated, but both shows were pretty goofy.

The original "Munsters" starred the late Fred Gwynne (famous later on for his "What's a 'yute'?" line in "My Cousin Vinny") as prefab galoot Herman Munster, who went to work every day at a mortuary, B-movie screen siren Yvonne De Carlo as his adoring wife, Lily, Al Lewis as Grandpa, Butch Patrick as were-cub Eddie Munster and, for most of the run, Pat Priest as the family misfit (she was normal and pretty), Marilyn.

It's a great idea to, you should pardon the expression, "reanimate" the old show, and it's an even greater idea for Bryan Fuller, the creator of "Pushing Daisies," to do it. He's come up with "Mockingbird Lane," an hour-long pilot, airing Friday night as a one-off. It's been in development for a while at NBC, yet despite the fact it's labeled as a "pilot," it's not likely to become a regular series. The show doesn't have the quality of "Pushing Daisies," or Fuller's weirdly appealing "Wonderfalls," but there are enough oddball touches to make it benignly watchable for an hour.

The reboot places Mockingbird Lane itself in, of all places, the Bay Area. To be specific, it seems to be located someplace in the Marin Headlands. Herman doesn't look like a Boris Karloff "Frankenstein" monster. Instead, he looks like Jerry O'Connell with sutures on his neck and a zipper in his chest to give "D" - the Grandpa character (Eddie Izzard, "The Riches") - access to his heart whenever it goes on the fritz.

Portia de Rossi ("Arrested Development") plays Lily, Charity Wakefield is Marilyn, and Mason Cook plays Eddie, completely unaware at first that he isn't like all the other boys in his Scout troop. Cheyenne Jackson ("United 93") plays a clueless Scoutmaster Steve.

The pilot does suffer from an apparent effort to make it bland and innocuous, as if that alone were what defines "family fare." The story line has a lot to do with heart, with Eddie on a journey of youthful discovery on the one hand, counterbalanced by Grandpa threatening to have the Scoutmaster over for dinner - literally - on the other so he can excavate his heart to pop into Herman's chest. Izzard, who can camp it up with the best of them and then some, is pretty much wasted here, although he does get off a few decent lines, albeit delivered halfheartedly, so to speak. De Rossi seems merely a set decoration, and O'Connell doesn't do much to dispel his reputation as a not very interesting actor. Here, he's not so much Herman Munster as Darrin Stephens - a bland '60s-era suburban TV husband with a zipper in his chest.

There are some OK special effects, making great use of CGI, but if you are a TV viewer of a certain age, they may have the unintended effect of making you think about how "The Munsters" did so much with so little back in the day.

Still, kids will like "Mockingbird Lane" well enough. But if it does happen to become a permanent address on NBC, Fuller needs to sharpen the writing by throwing even more double entendres in for the grown-ups. All the parts are here - they just need to be put together correctly.